"Welserkarte"

Studienbibliothek Dillingen

Description

Diogo Ribeiro (d. 1533), Portuguese by birth, was one of the most important cartographers of his time. He was in Spanish service, at times he worked for Emperor Charles V (1519-1556). Famous are his world maps in which he incorporated the latest discoveries gained from journeys of exploration and expeditions at that time. Several of these world maps have been preserved. The present pieces are two fragments of a world map of 1530, the size of which was originally 86 x 210 cm. One fragment shows parts of the Americas, parts of the Atlantic Ocean, parts of Western Europe and Africa, the other the north-eastern part of Africa and large parts of Asia. Typically for Ribeiro's maps, there are short explanatory texts as well as numerous illustrations of animals and plants of the depicted regions, of ships, etc. The detailed note about the Welser (Belzeres) near Castilia del Oro suggests that the map was intended for the Augsburg merchant house of the Welser, probably for Bartholomäus (V) Welser (1484-1561) who undertook the first steps towards a colonisation of Venezuela at this time. The fragments were used as binding material for two volumes in the Dillingen Studienbibliothek. Their previous owners were based in Augsburg, i.e. a member of the Augsburg family Ilsung and Franz Ludwig de Bally (d. 1740). It was not until the 1950s that the maps were discovered and rescued. // Datum: 2016

Rights Statement Description

CC0